The Orange County Health Care Agency has approved ARCO/BP’s revised workplan for decontaminating the Seal Beach gas station on Pacific Coast Highway.
The health agency notified ARCO that the plan was approved, with some additional conditions and comments, in a letter dated Wednesday, Nov. 17.
The underground storage tanks beneath the Bridgeport neighborhood ARCO station have leaked at least twice since the 1980s.
As previously reported in the Sun, in 2009 gasoline vapor contamination was detected in Bridgeport residential neighborhood soil near the gas station.
Earlier this year, the county health agency directed ARCO to excavate, or “dig and haul,” the contaminated soil at the site.
ARCO’s consultant, Stantec Consulting Corporation of Lakewood, originally proposed using chemicals to remove toxic chemicals from the soil at the site.
Then ARCO proposed using electricity to cook the chemicals out of the soil. However, residents of the Bridgeport area, members of the Bridgeport Technical Advisory Committee, the Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board, the Seal Beach City Council and the OC Health Care Agency all preferred another option: excavation—digging out and hauling away the contaminated dirt.
Excavation plans will include the bulldozing of the existing gas station. It is not known if ARCO will rebuild the gas station after decontamination is complete.
According to the Nov. 17 Health Care Agency letter, ARCO has not yet reached an agreement with the owner of the adjacent Pacific Coast Highway Plaza to perform any off-site excavation. “The method of excavation is not presented in the workplan,” the letter said. Health Care Agency officials asked ARCO to file an addendum to the workplan explaining how the petroleum company will dig out the contaminated soil.
The letter said the Health Care Agency had contacted representatives of the plaza who said the owners were willing to reach an agreement to have the driveway between the plaza and the ARCO station excavated.
The health agency directed ARCO to contact the plaza property owner before excavation begins. ARCO will be required to submit monthly progress reports to the health agency.
According to the Health Care Agency, the plaza’s representatives want temporary access to 5th Street for supplies. Also, the possibility that a sewer line is under the driveway may complicate excavation of the driveway.
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